Academia.eduAcademia.edu
European Journal of Economic and Financial Research ISSN: 2501-9430 ISSN-L: 2501-9430 Available on-line at: http://www.oapub.org/soc doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1009181 Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY: ELICITING MILLENNIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ETHICS WITHIN PHARMACEUTICALS Jet Mbogai The University of Bolton, Bolton Business School: Fulfillment of PhD, Deane Road, Bolton, BL3 5AB, UK Abstract: Americans spend $392 billion in prescribed medication per Washington post; Wall Street Journal study compared branded rugs in Ontario, Canada, England, Norway the findings confirmed that United States prices were higher prices than Norway; and England. United States with the highest prices contribute to price gouging? EpiPen by Mylan from $2 overseas and $750; Daraprim by Turning Pharmaceuticals gouge from $13.50 to $750 per pill; and Cosmegen $20 to $30 overseas and $1400 per injection these prices are horrendous especially when the drugs are required for debilitating diseases. Ebola scare in 2014 required protective devices against contamination of the virus. Kimberly Clark and Halyard Health manufactured, marketed, and sold Microcool gowns with a 77% failure rate as confirmed by Intertek Labs. What contributes to the pharmaceutical unethical conduct that includes price gouging and exploitation? Pharmaceuticals growing with an emphasis on buying rights to drugs and drastically increasing the cost of drugs and medical devices without substitutes ethical; what do millennials who are projected by Fortune to dominate the workforce by 2020 think on ethics within pharmaceuticals? The findings confirmed that the pharmaceuticals price gouging, sale of drugs and products that are later recalled, and huge budgets in marketing instead of R&D weren’t ethical and results confirmed that the pharmaceutical companies should focus on their core which is saving patients’ lives. JEL: L60, L65, I18 A14, L29, K32, M14 Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 118 Jet Mboga ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY: ELICITING MILLENNIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ETHICS WITHIN PHARMACEUTICALS Keywords: ethics, price gouging, recall, defective, sustainable, millennials, pharmaceutical 1. Introduction Pharmaceuticals are industries that carry the responsibilities of developing lifesaving drugs and medical devices. The estimation of global pharmaceutical was at $1.1 trillion sharing 40% of the market with top 10 companies in 2017 (See Appendix A); the ranking criteria included overall growth, Research and Development (R & D) and total expenses, revenue by employee, and revenue from top three products (IGEAHUB, 2017). In our competitive market, today the stock market analysis is the criterion used to measure how well a company is performing thus creating pressures on the companies to perform well to meet projected goals. The board of directors uses the stock market performance to provide incentives to management; the pressures to meet goals and the unethical events that have occurred contribute to the decline of the pharmaceutical industries (Lazonick, 2014). The negative reputation associated with pharmaceuticals has been compared to tobacco and financial sectors as publicly traded companies aren’t immune to pressures of Wall Street in meeting yearly and quarterly expectations (Kessel, 2014; Lazonick, 2014). Research shows that the negative reputation in the pharmaceuticals is related to how consumers access their medication; generic drug competition resulting from patent expiration of brand name; increased cost and price pressure; public policy; and stakeholder attitudes (Kessel, 2014). The pharmaceuticals have become huge corporations who have steered away from their main responsibilities of taking care of the patient needs to emphasis of staying competitive and gaining market share; to meet these objectives offshoring and elimination of in-house teams, minimization of biotech/biopharmaceutical sector, and reduction in capital for Research and Development (R&D) (Kessel, 2014). Unethical practices in pharmaceuticals have become pervasive; the unethical conducts include raising cost of drugs and devices after the purchase of patents; specifically cost of toxoplasmosis drug increased by 5,500%; Mylan pharmaceuticals increased EpiPen to 791%; increase of drugs for skin infections and eczema by Novum Pharma over 4,000% ((Alpern & Klugman, 2016). Tampering of Tylenol (Johnson & Johnson) in 1982 with death of 7 people and recent cases of recall of medication that contained particles of metal (Rehak, 2002). Turing Pharmaceuticals price hike of Daraprim; from $13.50 to $750 per pill; a hike per by 5000%; Kimberly Clark and European Journal of Economic and Financial Research - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 119 Jet Mboga ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY: ELICITING MILLENNIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ETHICS WITHIN PHARMACEUTICALS Halyard Health sale of 77% defective gowns during a national scare on Ebola (Cooper, 2016; Jamerson, 2016). Washington Post reported $329 billion spent on prescribed drugs in 2013; 9 out of 10 pharmaceuticals spend less on research and more money on marketing; Johnson & Johnson $8.2 billion in R&D and $17.5 billion in marketing and sales 2013 (Swanson, 2015). Recent research by Wall Street Journal study compared 40 branded drugs in Ontario, Canada, England, Norway the findings confirmed that United States prices were 93% higher prices than Norway; Ontario had lower prices for all 28 drugs surveyed; and United States prices were higher than England (Nicks, 2015). Additionally, Wall Street study reported that new worldwide drugs are subsidized by United States along with large budget advertising while Europe doesn’t allow advertising budget to be included in the cost (Nicks, 2015). Why does the United States have the highest prices? Price gouging? The excessive prices charged by pharmaceuticals’ is above the cost they incur to manufacture, market and sale the product; the unconditionally high price is an unfair advantage to consumers (Dorfaman, 2016; Wu, 2017). In this research the essential elements to address are the unethical events that include recall, price gouging, and defective devices. The researcher focused on interviewing millennials to understand their perspectives on the ethics behind pharmaceutical industries; emphasis on the integration of individual moral values with pharmaceuticals to ensure sustainable development. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/soc/index.php/EJEFR/article/view/223 European Journal of Economic and Financial Research - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2017 120